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Clitocybe odora |
Clitocybe odora, the Aniseed Funnel Cap, is more easily detected by its scent than by its appearance. The pale blue colour of young specimens soon fades towards light grey. |
| Young caps of Clitocybe odora are quite striking... visually and in
terms of their strong aniseed scent and flavour. The colour soon fades, but
the strong odour and taste remain. Pale specimens could be confused with
suspect species such as Clitocybe fragrans, and so it is advisable to
collect only young, blue specimens for culinary use.
This beautiful mushroom is commonly referred to as either the Aniseed Mushroom or the Aniseed Funnel cap. Once again, as if it was needed, the fungus world reminds us that gill colour is no guide to the colour of the spores. Like so many of the Tricholomatales, the spore print from this species is white. This species is recorded in some reference books as Clitocybe viridis. |
Cap |
3 to 8 cm in diameter, blue-green at first but
fading towards pale cream; smooth and non-greasy; convex, later flattening
and eventually becoming funnel-shaped with a wavy margin.
The cap flesh is white, thin and very tough; edible but best dried and used as a flavouring. |
Gills |
Paler than the cap surface, the gills
are adnate or slightly decurrent, fairly broad and moderately spaced.
Like the cap surface, the gills also pale with age. |
Stipe |
5 to 10 mm in diameter and 4 to 6 cm tall, the stem is silkily fibrous and is covered in fine white downy fibres towards the slightly swollen base. |
Spore print |
White. |
Odour/taste |
Strong odour and taste of aniseed. |
Habitat |
In broad-leaf litter; mainly under beech trees. |
Season |
July to October. |
Occurrence |
Infrequent. |
Similar species |
|
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